Children's visual acuity tests without professional supervision: a prospective repeated measures study.

Background: Home visual acuity tests could ease pressure on ophthalmic services by facilitating remote review of patients. Home tests may have further utility in giving service users frequent updates of vision outcomes during therapy, identifying vision problems in an asymptomatic population, and engaging stakeholders in therapy.

Methods: Children attending outpatient clinics had visual acuity measured 3 times at the same appointment: Once by a registered orthoptist per clinical protocols, once by an orthoptist using a tablet-based visual acuity test (iSight Test Pro, Kay Pictures), and once by an unsupervised parent/carer using the tablet-based test.

Regional vs global physical therapy interventions to treat chronic pain in survivors of trauma: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: A history of traumatic life events is associated with chronic pain in later life. Physical therapists utilize a variety of methods to treat pain, however, they have struggled to find effective interventions to improve patient outcomes.

Objective: To compare impairment-based, regional (REGION-PT) physical therapy (PT) to a global (GLOBAL-PT) model consisting of pain neuroscience education, graded motor imagery, and exercise for adults with chronic pain and history of trauma.

A systematic review and pooled prevalence of burnout in pharmacists.

Background: Burnout is an occupational phenomenon caused by ineffectively managed work-related stress. Burnout is common among healthcare professionals and has the capacity to compromise patient care, but is not well characterised in pharmacists.

Aim: This systematic review aimed to establish the prevalence of burnout among pharmacists, and its associated risk factors.

Extraction of Dielectric Permittivity from Atomistic Molecular Dynamics Simulations and Microwave Measurements.

The design of new biotechnology depends on the prediction and measurement of the electrical properties of biomolecules. The dielectric permittivity, in particular, is highly important for the design of microwave systems for diagnostics, yet this property is rarely explicitly targeted during the development of biomolecular force fields for molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. In order to explore the ability of existing force fields to reproduce the frequency-dependent permittivity, we carried out MD simulations of various aqueous solutions, including pure water, isopropyl alcohol, alanine, and the protein ubiquitin.

Stress resilience-associated behaviors following predator scent stress are accompanied by upregulated nucleus accumbens mGlu5 transcription in female Sprague Dawley rats.

Despite the higher prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in women, the majority of preclinical research has been conducted utilizing male subjects. We have found that male rats exposed to the predator scent 2,4,5-trimethyl-3-thiazoline (TMT) show heterogenous long-term anxiety-like behavior and conditioned fear to the TMT environment. Stress-Resilient males exhibit increased mGlu5 mRNA expression in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and prefrontal cortex (PFC).

Artificial neural network in the discrimination of lung cancer based on infrared spectroscopy.

Given the increasing prevalence of lung cancer worldwide, an auxiliary diagnostic method is needed alongside the microscopic examination of biopsy samples, which is dependent on the skills and experience of pathologists. Thus, this study aimed to advance lung cancer diagnosis by developing five (5) artificial neural network (NN) models that can discriminate malignant from benign samples based on infrared spectral data of lung tumors (n = 122; 56 malignant, 66 benign). NNs were benchmarked with classical machine learning (CML) models.

Selection for high levels of resistance to double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) in Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say) using non-transgenic foliar delivery.

Insecticidal double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) silence expression of vital genes by activating the RNA interference (RNAi) mechanism in insect cells. Despite high commercial interest in insecticidal dsRNA, information on resistance to dsRNA is scarce, particularly for dsRNA products with non-transgenic delivery (ex. foliar/topical application) nearing regulatory review.

Actin guides filamentous rhizoid growth and morphogenesis in the zoosporic fungus .

The advantage of filamentous growth to the fungal lifestyle is so great that it arose multiple times. Most zoosporic fungi from phylum Chytridiomycota exhibit a monocentric thallus form consisting of anucleate filamentous rhizoids that anchor reproductive sporangia to substrata and absorb nutrients. Actin function during polarized growth and cytokinesis is well documented across eukaryotes, but its role in sculpting nonhyphal, nonyeast fungal cells is unknown.

Scaling Up Testing for Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection Among Contacts of Index Patients - 20 Countries, 2016-2018.

In 2017, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimated that worldwide, 36.9 million persons were living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, the virus infection that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Among persons with HIV infection, approximately 75% were aware of their HIV status, leaving 9.

National health information systems for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Objectives: Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals will require data-driven public health action. There are limited publications on national health information systems that continuously generate health data. Given the need to develop these systems, we summarised their current status in low-income and middle-income countries.

Diversity of opisthokont septin proteins reveals structural constraints and conserved motifs.

Background: Septins are cytoskeletal proteins important in cell division and in establishing and maintaining cell polarity. Although septins are found in various eukaryotes, septin genes had the richest history of duplication and diversification in the animals, fungi and protists that comprise opisthokonts. Opisthokont septin paralogs encode modular proteins that assemble into heteropolymeric higher order structures.

Belowground annual ring growth coordinates with aboveground phenology and timing of carbon storage in two tallgrass prairie forb species.

Premise Of The Study: Herb chronology, the study of belowground annual growth rings in perennial forbs, has much potential as a tool for monitoring plant growth as a function of environment. To harness this potential, understanding of the coordination between ring ontogeny, aboveground phenology, and the temporal allocation of carbon products belowground in herbaceous forbs must be improved.

Methods: We investigated these relationships in two southern United States tallgrass prairie perennial forb species, Asclepias viridis and Lespedeza stuevei, making monthly excavations for a year.

Evaluation of Senegal's prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) program data for HIV surveillance.

Background: With the expansion of Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) services in Senegal, there is growing interest in using PMTCT program data in lieu of conducting unlinked anonymous testing (UAT)-based ANC Sentinel Surveillance. For this reason, an evaluation was conducted in 2011-2012 to identify the gaps that need to be addressed while transitioning to using PMTCT program data for surveillance.

Methods: We conducted analyses to assess HIV prevalence rates and agreements between Sentinel Surveillance and PMTCT HIV test results.

Did Clarification of Medicare Guidelines Change Outpatient Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Usage? A Retrospective Analysis.

Objective: To determine if there was a change in the number of outpatient physical therapy (PT) and occupational therapy (OT) visits for Medicare beneficiaries, and in the number of beneficiaries receiving extended courses of >12 therapy visits, after the Jimmo vs Sebelius settlement.

Design: Cross-sectional analysis of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) comparing calendar years 2011-2012 to 2014-2015.

Setting: Community in-home survey.

New insights into the evolutionary history of Fungi from a 407 Ma Blastocladiomycota fossil showing a complex hyphal thallus.

Zoosporic fungi are key saprotrophs and parasites of plants, animals and other fungi, playing important roles in ecosystems. They comprise at least three phyla, of which two, Chytridiomycota and Blastocladiomycota, developed a range of thallus morphologies including branching hyphae. Here we describe gen.

HIV Surveillance Among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Clinics: Evolution and Current Direction.

Since the late 1980s, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) sentinel serosurveillance among pregnant women attending select antenatal clinics (ANCs) based on unlinked anonymous testing (UAT) has provided invaluable information for tracking HIV prevalence and trends and informing global and national HIV models in most countries with generalized HIV epidemics. However, increased coverage of HIV testing, prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT), and antiretroviral therapy has heightened ethical concerns about UAT. PMTCT programs now routinely collect demographic and HIV testing information from the same pregnant women as serosurveillance and therefore present an alternative to UAT-based ANC serosurveillance.

Retention Throughout the HIV Care and Treatment Cascade: From Diagnosis to Antiretroviral Treatment of Adults and Children Living with HIV-Haiti, 1985-2015.

Monitoring retention of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in the HIV care and treatment cascade is essential to guide program strategy and evaluate progress toward globally-endorsed 90-90-90 targets (i.e., 90% of PLHIV diagnosed, 81% on sustained antiretroviral therapy (ART), and 73% virally suppressed).

Trends in Prevalence of Advanced HIV Disease at Antiretroviral Therapy Enrollment - 10 Countries, 2004-2015.

Monitoring prevalence of advanced human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease (i.e., CD4+ T-cell count <200 cells/μL) among persons starting antiretroviral therapy (ART) is important to understand ART program outcomes, inform HIV prevention strategy, and forecast need for adjunctive therapies.

Yellow Fever Outbreak - Kongo Central Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, August 2016.

On April 23, 2016, the Democratic Republic of the Congo's (DRC's) Ministry of Health declared a yellow fever outbreak. As of May 24, 2016, approximately 90% of suspected yellow fever cases (n = 459) and deaths (45) were reported in a single province, Kongo Central Province, that borders Angola, where a large yellow fever outbreak had begun in December 2015. Two yellow fever mass vaccination campaigns were conducted in Kongo Central Province during May 25-June 7, 2016 and August 17-28, 2016.

HIV surveillance in Rwanda: readiness assessment to transition from antenatal care-based to prevention of mother-to-child transmission program-based HIV surveillance.

Background: In 2013, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended that for efficiency and ethical considerations, transitioning from antenatal clinic-based surveillance to prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT)-based routine data should be investigated. An assessment of the readiness for this transition was carried out in Rwanda in 2011 and 2013.

Methods: This assessment applied the WHO recommended method.

Treatment of Skin Inflammation with Benzoxaborole Phosphodiesterase Inhibitors: Selectivity, Cellular Activity, and Effect on Cytokines Associated with Skin Inflammation and Skin Architecture Changes.

Psoriasis and atopic dermatitis are skin diseases affecting millions of patients. Here, we characterize benzoxaborole phosphodiesterase (PDE)-4 inhibitors, a new topical class that has demonstrated therapeutic benefit for psoriasis and atopic dermatitis in phase 2 or phase 3 studies. Crisaborole [AN2728, 4-((1-hydroxy-1,3-dihydrobenzo[c][1,2]oxaborol-5-yl)oxy)benzonitrile], compd2 [2-ethoxy-6-((1-hydroxy-1,3-dihydrobenzo[c][1,2]oxaborol-5-yl)oxy)nicotinonitrile], compd3 [6-((1-hydroxy-1,3-dihydrobenzo[c][1,2]oxaborol-5-yl)oxy)-2-(2-isopropoxyethoxy)nicotinonitrile], and compd4 [5-chloro-6-((1-hydroxy-1,3-dihydrobenzo[c][1,2]oxaborol-5-yl)oxy)-2-((4-oxopentyl)oxy)nicotinonitrile] are potent PDE4 inhibitors with similar affinity for PDE4 isoforms and equivalent inhibition on the catalytic domain and the full-length enzyme.

Latitudinal trends in genus richness of vascular plants in the Eocene and Oligocene of North America.

The latitudinal richness gradient is a frequent topic of study on the modern landscape, but its history in deep time is much less well known. Here, we preliminarily evaluated the paleolatitudinal richness gradient of vascular plants for the Eocene (56-33.9 million years ago) and Oligocene (33.

Is Zimbabwe ready to transition from anonymous unlinked sero-surveillance to using prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) program data for HIV surveillance?: results of PMTCT utility study, 2012.

Background: Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) programs collect socio-demographic and HIV testing information similar to that collected by unlinked anonymous testing sero-surveillance (UAT) in antenatal settings. Zimbabwe evaluated the utility of PMTCT data in replacing UAT.

Methods: A UAT dataset was created by capturing socio-demographic, testing practices from the woman's booking-card and testing remnant blood at a laboratory from 1 June to 30 September 2012.